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Professor Stephen Belcher, head of the Met Office’s Hadley Centre, said: ‘At the moment, we’re able to say that by the 2040s we can expect events like 2003 to be normal.’

In fact by the end of the century, 2003 could even be viewed as a cold summer if trends continue, he said.

But along with hotter summer months we could be heading for more frequent heavy winter downpours.

‘Heavy rain is becoming heavier and that’s consistent with our picture of a warming world and warming atmosphere,’ said Professor Belcher.

Freezing: People will still have to plan for the occasional very cold winter, as occurred in 2011. The Angel of the North naer Gateshead is seen in December of that year

Extra cold winter: An elderly woman peers out from a bus shelter as dog walkers make their way through heavy snow fall in High Wycombe on December 16, 2011

The report points to a combination of natural processes and human influences on Britain’s changing climate.

It blamed a series of recent wet summers on natural climate variation, but said man could be partly responsible for the blisteringly hot 2003.

The report concluded: ‘The UK has seasonal weather that varies hugely from year to year due to natural processes.

‘Nevertheless, human influence has been detected in the hot temperatures experienced in Europe during the summer of 2003, and there are signs that the character of rainfall has shifted in the last 50 years with slightly more heavy rainfall events, consistent with a warmer atmosphere holding more water.

Flooding: Heavy downpours are becoming more frequent in the UK - a pattern likely to be linked to climate change. Moorland in Somerset is seen last month

Devastation: People look over flooded fields which persisted over farmland surrounding Burrowbridge in Somerset, earlier this year. This photo was taken in January

'Other seasons, such as the cold winter of 2010/11 and the wet summer of 2012 appear to be associated with natural fluctuations in the UK’s varied climate.’

Professor Andrew Challinor, from the University of Leeds, said warmer temperatures could cause wheat yields to drop by up to ten per cent.

But there would also be more ‘opportunities’ for British farmers – who would be able to grow new crops such as grapes and maize, he added.

More than 2,000 people are thought to have died of heat-related causes in the UK in 2003, and 20,000 in the rest of Europe.